Overcoat, T. Jefferson's c. 1936

Syrena Swanson rendered this watercolor of Thomas Jefferson’s overcoat at an unknown date. Look at the details of the coat’s surface and the precision of the many buttons. I can imagine Swanson carefully building the forms with thin washes of color, the dark pigment pooling and gathering to create those velvety textures. There’s something so intimate about focusing on this one garment, carefully observing the texture and the way the light falls. I wonder what Swanson was thinking about as she painted? Was she imagining Jefferson himself, wrapped in this very coat? Was she interested in the play of light and shadow on the fabric? Maybe she liked how the lines and shapes of the coat created a composition? I feel like I’m in the studio with her, watching her eye move across the object. Painters are always in conversation, you know? Swanson’s attention to detail echoes the work of other artists who find inspiration in the everyday.